Summer Yet Again
by CatsAreSorcery
Summary: After her great uncle shows signs of becoming mentally insane, seventeen-year-old Mabel finds herself shipped off to Gravity Falls yet again, having been told to make her best efforts to "fix" her uncle. However, which one of them really needs fixing? And what kind of bond can develop between a reserved girl who buries her issues deep and her uncle?


It was another Sunday morning for Mabel Pines. She woke up early with high ambitions to start her day, waking up her brother along the way. He definitely had the teenage boy sleep patterns, and would sleep through the entire day if he could.

"Hey, Dipper. Wake up." Mabel said, shoving him a few times. Dipper groaned, which caused Mabel to let out a giggle.

Dipper had changed a lot in the past couple of years. His former squeaky voice sounded a lot more masculine, he was at least a foot taller, and he was starting to become covered in the dark hairs he had so greatly envied for a long time.

Mabel went downstairs and made herself her usual morning coffee (just a _hint _of sugar) with a small blueberry breakfast muffin. Dipper simply poured himself a bowl of cereal, still looking half-dazed.

After eating her muffin and drinking her coffee, she went out and checked the mail, as she knew she needed to. Their mother worked long days on Sunday and pretty much every other day, and their father...well, let's not discuss what has happened with him.

However, as Mabel slid her hand into the mailbox, she didn't find the usual bills or ads for cable TV that they already had. Instead she found a plain white envelope addressed in her name, something she never saw.

As Mabel pulled out the envelope and inspected it, she saw that the return address was labeled to Gravity Falls, Oregon.

What would anyone want from her in a place like that? Sure, there was her great uncle, but she hadn't heard from him in years. What if this was some sort of trick from the old supernatural beasts in that place? She'd been lucky to escape alive the first time...

Still, her curious nature getting the best of her, she ran inside and opened the envelope.

She found a piece of notebook paper inside, with a message seemingly addressed to her.

* * *

><p><em>Dear Mabel Pines,<br>_

_You may not remember me. I've only seen you once or twice, back when you spent the summer at your great uncle's shack. My name is Susan, and I've been friends with your great uncle for quite some time.  
><em>

_I recall hearing from him perhaps a month or two ago that you are training to become a psychiatrist. As such, I am requesting your help with your great uncle Stanford Pines. Recently, he has been coming home late, refusing to tell anybody where he's been, and blowing all of his cash on items he refuses to elaborate on._

_He is in danger of losing the shack due to the amount of money he is wasting on Lord only knows what, and I fear for his future. You're the last hope we as a community have decided we can use for him. If you cannot help him, we will have to give the Shack to the Gleeful family and send Stan away to a retirement home._

_I've already discussed these arrangements with your mother and she has agreed to pay for a plane ticket for you to come down to Gravity Falls. Here is my phone number is you have any further questions._

_(phone number)_

_Sincerely,_

_Susan P._

* * *

><p>Mabel read over the note several times after that, a bit embarrassed by the "training to become a psychiatrist" part. She had only just graduated her senior year of high school. Psychiatry was just a first year thing that she wasn't sure if she was even going to pursue as a career.<p>

She was also a bit confused as to how word had spread all the way to Gravity Falls, but she figured her mother must've been bragging on her. After all, Dipper still didn't really know what he wanted to do with his life, though at the moment he was saying "detective". Last week he had said "animation".

Mabel was a bit sad to hear that her great uncle had gone off the deep end, but wasn't sure what exactlythey wanted her to do about it. She barely knew the foggiest about psychiatry, and she was expected to know what to do about an elderly man's mental health?

Well, it could be a good experiment for her...

* * *

><p>Mabel left the next morning on the first plane, much to Dipper's surprise.<p>

"Mom, you're seriously letting her go?" Dipper asked. "What if she totally made that letter up just so she could get away for the summer and become like a hooker or something?"

"Oh, and I suppose she faked being that Susan lady too?" Dipper and Mabel's mom said with a laugh, taking a drag off of a cigarette. "Mabel's a good girl, Dipper. I wouldn't trust _you _to go to places unknown to me on such short notice for the summer, but..."

"Hey! Double standard!"

"I know. And I'm proud of it."

* * *

><p>The plane ride was short and Mabel slept through most of it. However, as soon as the plane landed and she was awoken she began to feel anxiety.<p>

She was going to be responsible for her great uncle? Mabel really hadn't thought this through...

There was also another little thing nagging at her from the back of her head: her father was staying in Oregon after he and their mother split up.

Mabel didn't want to see him. Hell, she didn't even want to _think _about him after all he had done to...

No. She couldn't weigh herself down with thoughts like that.

_The chances of me running into him are slim to none anyways, _Mabel thought to herself as she looked up the address of the Mystery Shack on her phone. She recognized a lot of places in Gravity Falls as she looked around - not much had changed, except tourism seemed to had decreased a bit since she had been there five years ago.

She guessed people just got over the silly knick-knacks and went on vacation to Vegas or something.

_Could that be part of what's going on with Stan? Decreased business?, _Mabel thought to herself as she walked to the Mystery Shack, her face partially buried in her phone as she read the walking directions.

* * *

><p>After an hour's walk or so, Mabel found herself at the Mystery Shack. Again, not much had changed - she knew that Stan always had cheapskate intentions and was never likely to update the old place. The place smelt of old wood and a hint of maple syrup.<p>

Her old tombstone was still out there from years ago: _R.I.P. Waddles. Short life, awesome pig._

She briefly went into nostalgia remembering her old summer pet, but didn't let herself get distracted. She knocked on the door of the old shack.

"Grunkle Stan? It's your niece, Mabel." Mabel said. "I'm assuming someone told you I was coming."

Mabel lightly chuckled to herself. As the door began to open, she suddenly felt a lot more tension as she looked at what had changed about Gravity Falls: Grunkle Stan.

His face was littered in shaving cuts, and he was wearing a torn shirt with torn jeans as well. His beard had crumbs stuck in it, and he had lost a lot of weight - to the point where Mabel thought he almost looked unhealthy.

Sure, Mabel was slim, but he just looked _bony_.

"Um...hello, Grunkle Stan." Mabel said.

Stan simply let out a burp in response. "Oh, hehe. Silly me. Yeah, I know why you're here. Come on in."

Mabel at first hesitated to enter but decided against her conscience and went inside of the old shack. The place had become littered in alcohol bottles, pill bottles which were previously full of who knows what, and cigarette butts.

Across the floor was everything from dirty underwear to fishing poles to porno magazines.

"I'm assuming that whore Susan sent you here to...I don't know, fix me?" Stan asked Mabel, with a chuckle.

A bit shocked by her grunkle's colorful vocabulary, Mabel responded, "Well, um...yes, something like that."

As Mabel looked at the filth all over her and what little of a man Stan had been reduced so, she realized this was likely going to be harder then she had thought before.


End file.
